Quality and quantity

Posted 4.11.2015

The Premier Rally Championship kicked off in style this weekend with two events, the Bruce Robinson Road Rally around Lincolnshire and the Bath Festival Navigational Rally in the South West.

The Bath Festival had received a full entry this year with crews coming from the South West, the Midlands and areas of Wales, a real hype was around the event on the week’s before. A huge verity of cars and experience was on the entry list with 18 Experts, 20 Semi-Experts and 18 Novices, the class split on the event was perfect. With the event being well known from years past several classic cars as well as great mixture of modern vehicles were involved. 4 Mk2 Escort’s, 2 Mk1 Escort’s, a Anglia, an Avenger, a Maestro, a Sunbeam and a Mini were all on the entry list along with several MG ZR’s, 205’s, Satria’s, Sirion’s and even a Seat Arosa, a great mix.

The event started in its usual spot of the White Horse Country Park just outside of Westbury, Wiltshire with everything except for scrutineering on site. The main hall was more than big enough for the 56 crews with ample amounts of room to plot inside and spread the two maps, 172 & 183, across the table. Most of the route was handed out at signing on which gave a more relaxed atmosphere at the start, for most… The route was challenging to plot with tight sections twisting back and forth and some areas where I struggled to fit everything on the map, but the route looked great.

At 10pm car 0, Jamie Jukes from West Wales along with Ross Whittock took off in their Astra to set the pace for the following crews, running at car 28 we set of 25 minutes to the first 4 tests before heading into the lanes. On the way out to the first test it was a shame to see car 3, Jonathan Gwillym & Jordan Dziadulewicz (Mk2 Escort) already on their way back to the start so early on. Looking at the results it looks like Gavin Lewis & Jon Bird (205 GTi) and David Fussell & Paul Bowen (Satria GTi) also had problems and didn’t make the first test, a real shame.

Test 1 was around Frome showground which has been used before, this time starting at the main entrance with a different route around the grid style gravel tracks. A great test which we could have gone around all day! Several spectators were on the bottom hairpin which is a good sight in the south west. John Davies & Nick Bloxham (Astra) were quickest around the test with a time of 2.11 proving their car 1 seeding. Gavin Rogers & Bob Rutherford (Mk2 Escort) were the next quickest just 2 seconds behind with the Semi-Expert crew of Mark Lennox & Ian Beamond (Anglia) just 1 second behind them. Matt Barker & John Connor (206 GTi) were the quickest novice crew setting the 6th quickest time overall with a time of 2.15, a great start for them!

Test 2 was just down the road at Witham Hall Farm, another test that Lucas & I remember from last year’s event as well as the Great Bustard a couple years ago. This one was concrete, but being used mainly as a cattle track, it was covered in some suspicious smelling substances! From the start it was 90 right and under a small railway bridge and then up a small ramp to a open square, keeping right of a couple cones around the right hand side before heading up the fast track to the finish. Rogers/Rutherford completed the test in just a minute with the novice pairing of Frank Burton & Simon Greenway (318 Ti) just 1 second behind. Davies/Bloxham weren’t far behind with a time of 1.03 along with 7 other crews including Barker/Conner who were setting a real pace for the novice class.

Test 3 was further south near Kilmington using Macmillan Way in King’s Wood Warren. Back onto gravel with several trees along the side of the roads this time. This test was full of long 2nd/3rd gear corners which was great fun in the rear wheel drive Escort. It was a shame to see Jamie Jukes car a short distance from the start with just three wheels on his car, we later found out that the wheel studs weren’t up to the job and had sheared off! A cone slalom half way through caught us out a little, the last section was pretty tight and we didn’t have enough oomph to swing the back end around. Rogers/Rutherford were on top again with a time of 2.11, a full 12 seconds in front of Davies/Bloxham! Simon Harris & Brian Cammack (Swift) were the third quickest through just a second behind the Astra. Lennox/Beamond were the quickest Semi’s through on 2.25 along with the novice crew of Jon Isacc & Darren Stevens (Focus) setting the same time.

Test 4 was a run back through the woods on the north side, last year it being 1 big test. Rogers/Rutherford set their 3rd quickest time on a 1.11 with Lennox/Beamond and David Thorpe & Andrew Lowe (106 XSi) both 5 seconds behind. This test is what claimed Lennox’s Anglia with mechanical gremlins last year so I’m sure they were happy to get through this year! Burton/Greenway set another quickest class time with a 1.17.

After the tests Rogers/Rutherford were in the lead after setting 3 quickest times with a total of 6.35. Davies/Bloxham were running second with 6.54 and Lennox/Beamond were third with 7.03. The novice class was being led by Isacc/Stevens with a total time of 7.09, Jon using his previous experiences of the tests to great effect.

It was then almost straight into the lanes with TC4 just being down the road near North Brewham. Less them 1km after the start we slotted left onto a private drive with a couple of 90 rights and then back up the other side towards to road. I had a feeling by this time it was going to rival several Welsh events! Out onto the lanes and straight into a tight LWR triangle to get RC1. Several crews had early problems missing the control at the end of the private driver or the RC giving them fails early on. The route ran along the edge of the railway before a 90 left and soon into the second time control. A hop across the A359 and then into another diagram which we flew straight past at first, slot left through a gate and along the hedge to a concrete track following some arrows through a farm. Back onto the road and through a couple controls before finishing the section at TC7 just outside of Stoney Stratton. This early on it was becoming apparent that the conditions were going to be tricky, a mix of almost everything on the roads making it very hard from the drivers to judge each corner. Mud, cow muck, ice, water, some bone dry, it was all there. The local pairing of Mike Burrows & Peter Blackett (Puma) were quickest on the first section showing that local knowledge can come in handy! Nic Morris & Martin Phasey (205 GTi) from Mid Wales were 10 seconds behind along with Freddy Camp & Mark Appleton (MG ZR). The quickest Semi crew were Lennox/Beamond dropping 1.03 with the young pairing of Simon Heywood & Sam Treveaven (Civic) being the quickest novice crew dropping 1.37. Unfortunately they missed PCF giving them a fail and knocking them right to the back of the positions.

A short neutral section through Evercreech and across to the A37 for the next section starting north of Ditcheat. Down around Paul Nicholls training fields and back across the A37 to a diagram at Little Pennard Farm. Slot hairpin right into the farm and into a control before a few long 45 lefts and back onto the road. The route then headed north towards Pilton before slotting south along the back of Worthy Farm (Glastonbury Festival site) and down through Andy Manston’s (M&H Photography) favourite ford! Crews then circled East Pennard before heading back up the other side of Worthy Farm. Around another triangle to send crews south again before looping around Sticklinch and onto the A361 for TC12RF, the approach being vital here. Crews had to give way onto the A361, 90 left and then slot hairpin right into a layby almost straight away where the TC was. It looks like only 1 crew missed it, I won’t name names!! Scott Jonas & Chris Perry (MG ZR) were the only crew to clean the section with Davies/Bloxham making a mistake and dropping them from 2nd back to 14th! Morris/Phasey were proving the Welsh knew what they were doing dropping only 3 seconds moving them up to the lead, with the ‘anglebox’ of Lennox/Beamond dropping 5 seconds moving them up to 2nd overall just 1 second behind! Burton/Greenway were back in the swing of things providing the quickest novice time dropping just 14 seconds.

A slight detour which was given out at the start due to some road works in Pilton before the next section. A couple tight corners and slots including a over 90 left in West Comptom and then onto a LWR triangle further up the road which was muddy enough for us to swing the back around and power through. Over the old railway and up to TC14 just outside of Shepton Mallet before heading east, chasing Paul Freeth & Chris Head in the Rover 214 along the fast flowing roads. Slot 90 left and then down to a lovely slot hairpin right which was covered in gravel, then up to TC15RF. The route then headed south west through Launchenley and down to the straight roads across Queen’s Sedge Moor. I think just before this is where we came across Steve Durbin & Kevin Chaffey with their Escort RS2000 well and truly stuck in a ditch! They had hit a patch of water as speed and been sucked into a watery ditch which looked pretty deep! It was probably only around 2 foot between the road and the hedge and they were at almost 90 degrees with only half the car showing, I hope there wasn’t too much damage! Luckily we had caught up Paul & Chris along the top of the moor so we could see where the slot was before heading north past Coxley to a give way follow arrows… With no arrows in sight and Paul & Chris stopped in the track in front we took a chance and went 90 right to find we should have gone up the track! On our way back we passed Paul & Chris following us(!) before we slotted up the track to find the first arrow around the first corner, sneaky! We managed to go in on our minute passing Thorpe/Lowe who were waiting at the control board for some unknown reason. It turned out Andrew needed to go back to school and take his maths GCSE’s again!

Davies/Bloxham were back in attack mode to regain some positions, setting the quickest time by some margin dropping 1.07. Second quickest were Morris/Phasey dropping 1.42 with Jonas/Perry and Burton/Greenway close behind dropping 1.45, a earlier on fail for Burton/Greenway though had put them back in 33rd at this point. Quickest semi crew were Lucas Redwood & Daniel Pidgeon (Mk2 Escort) dropping 2.06.

On to Petrol in Wells now, it hadn’t seemed like we were just under half way but it had been brilliant what we had done! Positions at petrol were as follows;

A couple crews dropped out at petrol, Kevin Wills & Richard Brooks who were in 11th dropped out with clutch issues and with a second noise test after petrol Josh Taylor & Abi Haycock had to pull out after lying in 32nd and 5th Novice with their exhaust blowing at the manifold.

Onto the second half which hopped between the top half of 183 and the bottom half of 172. MTC3 was up over the Mendips near Chewton Mendip. While waiting at the control for our time we could here the other cars looping their way north, the distinctive sound of a Honda VTech screaming through the lanes, Roger Holder & Peter Barnard were still going then!

A tight section to plot with the route twisting back and forth almost using the same junction 4 times before going north over to map 172 and into TC18. A short section but very tight and twisty, Davies/Bloxham were on a mission dropping 14 seconds with the closest crew being Lennox/Beamond dropping 48. Harris/Cammack were third quickest dropping 50 seconds in the Suzuki Swift.

A little run along the B3114 up to West Harptree and then slotting right in the middle of Compton Martin to take the crews into NTC19. Up the road and slot 90 left into a farm yard for another follow arrows section. This is where I made my biggest mistake of the night, either plotting the TC too far up the road or the TC physically too far up, but either way we missed the slot left as I thought it was a lot sooner. So when we got to the give way at the end we swung it around to go and look for it, dropping at least 2 minutes as we passed two cars going the other way (sorry!) before turning around again after not finding it. We got back to the give way and just before Lucas turned left I spotted a open gate out the corner of my eye to the left, it was at the junction! Se we slotted in sideways to the amusement of the cattle and into PCP. Heading east around the top of Ubley and around Blagdon Lake to TC20 and then onto another LWR triangle. Running along the Somerset border with North Somerset past West Town and the north past Butcombe. Through a interesting diagram which turned out to be a slalom through a series of cones in a wide open area, some tighter than the rest, we had also caught up with Paul & Chris again! North past Regilbury Court before a over 90 left towards Lye Hole. A couple more RC’s before heading north again and into TC22. Some fast sections before passing some road works which we were warned about at the start, this section was very muddy but still fast. Down to Hounsley Batch before a large ‘mapped’ triangle next to Regil for TC23. South again past Strode and through Plaster’s Green & Nempnett Thrubwell before a couple of LWR triangles next to each other on opposite sides of the road, Paul & Chris missed the first one and turned around so this gave us a chance to pass. Up across the common and down to the B3114 with TC25 being on the edge of the Chew Valley Lake. With the earlier mistakes this section cost us a couple positions dropping us down to 7th. Lennox/Beamond set a blistering time dropping 1.12 with Davies/Bloxham dropping 1.21, these two crews were on a mission, moving up to 1st and 3rd overall respectively! Burrows/Blackett were third quickest dropping 2.39 and quickest novice crew were Burton/Greenway dropping 4.12.

Back down through West Harptree on a neutral to the next section which started south of Hinton Blewett. Fog has started to set in now which was very thick in places, a real challenge for drivers! Through a PC and then back down onto map 183 to a small 100m quiet next to Litton on a hairpin left (shame!). Across the A39 and around Turnpike Corner before another triangle heading into the next TC. When we arrived at the triangle it wasn’t as expected, just a small gravel patch in the middle of the road with a wall on the outside. We tried to go LWR just encase there was a DSO nearby and we noticed we didn’t go around enough to see the RC on the wall on the outside. By this time the Brooks were behind us so we drove around the triangle to find they had done the same! It would have been quite amusing to watch the two cars circling around each other a couple times before heading off down the road! Down to the B3114 again and a quick blast up there before slotting over 90 left long way around a triangle and down around the back of the second noise test, 90 left at East End and then down to a GW Right before TC28RF south west of Emborough.

The neutral section took the crews down a couple B roads before hopping over the A37 again south of Binegar. Before the event started I made an error with plotting, I personally draw my line on the left hand side of the road, which helps with defining a left and right when your going up and down the map, while plotting on the map change I accidentally drew the line on the right hand side, confusing me quite a lot when looking back over! So I made the decision to try and rub out all the wrong section and replot, rather than sending Lucas into a hedge then a slot, but it was a little messy as it was a very tight section to plot as well. You can guess it, here comes problem number 2! TC29 started between Binegar and Oakhill sending crews north of Neighbourne to a cross roads and slot 90 left. We came to the junction and the road on the left was closed, not looking at the map properly with the mess I send Lucas straight on before quickly realising we were heading to a TC the wrong direction! (We also has a tree or person chuck a rather large stick at us outside a row of houses, maybe it was a little hint we were going wrong?!) So we turned around and met a swarm of cars coming the same wrong direction, Tom Brooks and Tony Brooks turned around when they saw us coming at them but a couple other cars carried on. We got to the crossroads and the road we wanted had signs across the road, blocking it… Rob Fields and Rich McLachlan arrived at the junction as well and we both looked at each other a little confused! The Brooks shot up the road using the hedge and after wasting time trying to figure out what to do I noticed the sign said ‘This road will be closed from the 9th of February’, it was the 8th… so we headed up there with the back end giving the sign a little tap on the way through, I wasn’t happy! Further up the road we found RC35 so we knew we were going the right way, another LWR triangle and then down to TC30 on the B3356, again, very late! After the TC it was slot right before the A367 and down the road that we were travelling along earlier in the wrong direction, give way crossroads 90 left. Here I noticed the same sign we saw earlier, the other road off the cross roads which wasn’t shut, maybe a angry householder nearby tried to stop cars from going up the road using the signs? Who knows! We were late though and dropping positions quicker then John Davies was making them up! Across the A367 this time and down to another LWR triangle, heading east above Stoke St Michael. Third mistake in a row, missed a slot 90 right onto a white, this again annoyed me because as we turned around and slotted down there I realised it was the same slot I missed on the Great Bustard ’13! We had to make up some serious time now! Through the white into PCY before heading north into a GW right which took us to TC31. North out of the TC towards Holcombe before slotting 45 right above Leigh upon Mendip. Another give way left before TC32 just before we got to Vobster.
3 more positions lost for us dropping up to 10th at this point. Davies/Bloxham were quickest again through this section dropping 2.33 (against our 8.46!!!) closing the gap between them and Lennox/Beamond to just 30 seconds. Second quickest were Rogers/Rutherford who were back on the pace after their early lead with Jonas/Perry third quickest 8 seconds behind on 2.54. Quickest Semi crew was the ‘anglebox’ dropping 3.25 and Burton/Greenway was dominating the novice class again dropping 3.50.

A short neutral section around the edge of Mells to NTC33, this section looked long and fast so maybe we could make some time up! 45 left, 200 30 left, 400 90 right, then Lucas thought the ground was a little boring so we took off over the railway bridge past his parents who were watching there! Slot 45 left and give way at the A362. Straight across and through the village of Hardington. Heading East below Faulkland (No dodgy registration plates here…) and into a large LWR triangle. The route then snaked it’s way along the top of map 183 before a friendly TC35RF just before the map swap. Davies/Bloxham and Aaron Pountney & Luke Pountney (Satria) both cleaned the section with Morris/Phasey dropping just 1 second. The quickest novice crew was the Black Civic of Haywood//Treveaven who were trying to make up for their earlier fails, dropping 1.09 in total. Lennox/Beamond dropped 28 seconds on this section meaning the gap between them and Davies/Bloxham was now down to only 2 seconds!

A quiet neutral took crews through Norton St Philip and into Hinton Charterhouse where crews slotted left and down to NTC36 which was a large A4 sheet handout. It was the farm track we were looking forward to, this year run the opposite way. Some of you may have seen M&H Photography’s photo of us in the Orange Escort going across the fields using long exposure to get the light trail for the entire length. A little rougher than last year at the start but once down to the field it was awesome! Flat out with a bit of camber to the right which meant we were travelling along most of the track like a crab. Up to the gateway and 90 right and another fast section down to the finish of the section (may as well have been a test!). Ryan Pickering & Peter Rushforth (Rover 25) must be mentioned here doing section in 1.06! (due time was a minute) The next quickest were Gareth Andrews & Luke Quinnell (Proton Compact) with 1.42 and the final crew to complete it in less than 2 minutes were Rogers/Rutherford with 1.56. No hanging around though going straight back into the lanes through Cleaves Wood and up to the edge of Wellow for PCAA. PCAA… Mark Lennox & Ian Beamond’s nemesis! Bath MC had cleverly put out all the PC posts before the event and each one had a 2 or 3 letter code board on it just encase the marshals didn’t turn up (happened twice in the night so a good idea!). Through the night it was a little bit of a guessing game as some marshals stood at the PC post, some stood a little ways after, using it like a control board. PCAA had nobody on it but a corner soon after, Mark & Ian didn’t write the code down thinking there was a marshal, but there was no marshal… We were writing every code down as there was space on the time cards just encase. I’m sure there going to be kicking themselves because of this! Dropping them from 1st overall down to 18th because of 3 little letters! After PCAA the route headed south and into TC38F just before the map change. Davies/Bloxham dropped 1.39 moving them up to 1st overall with Lennox/Beamond dropping 1.44 but picking up that fail. Rogers/Rutherford dropped 1.57 moving them up to 2nd overall. Quickest novice crew were again Burton/Greenway dropping 2.13. The anglebox’s fail and a quicker time then Harris/Cammack moved us up to 8th, we were heading in the right direction at last!

The last section now before the finish! NTC39 was just above Faulkland and then hopped back to map 172 straight away. Up to the final LWR triangle of the night at RC39 before going over the bridge and slotting right in Stony Littleton following the River Somer for a little. Up to the edge of Wellow, slotting hairpin left into a field and across the middle on a rough track. 90 right in the field and up to PCBB at the end, by this time we had caught Mike Saywell & Shaun Layland in the 106 Rallye and followed them down into TC40. A slack section took us down to Peasedown St John and around the bypass towards Bath. Crews slotted 90 right just before Dunkerton and into TC41, because this wasn’t a neutral we wanted the same time as Mike & Shaun and also Graham Child & Kevin Ablitt in the Mk1 Escort at this point. It wasn’t ideal being the third car to have our time cards signed, but that’s how it goes sometimes! Down a rough white where we soon caught Mike & Shaun who had caught Graham & Kevin (I must admit, I wouldn’t have pushed that Mk1 Mexico down that road!!) and into PCCC at the end. Straight across the crossroads and into TC42, again 3rd car in the convoy. Straight across another cross roads before a 30 left into tight 60 left, 500 slot 90 right, at the slot Graham and Kevin were turning around, it looked like they had missed it and gone straight on. We passed them and soon caught Mike & Shaun again heading towards the final control. We pushed them on a little and when the road opened they pulled over to the left, possibly a slight plotting error again but it turned out they had pulled over and stopped at the control board, not to let us past, so we went flying in 49 seconds too early! It wouldn’t have changed our final positions though so not to worry! And that was it! TC43 and back to the finish! Pickering/Rushforth were continuing their late charge setting the final quickest time, dropping 1.09 with Davies/Bloxham securing their win with 1.41. Third quickest was Rogers/Rutherford dropping 2.02.

Commiserations to Mark Lennox & Ian Beamond who would have come second if it wasn’t due to one small error, the same for Scott Jonas & Chris Perry who would have been 4th overall.

The run back to the finish took around half an hour before packing up the car and heading in for a well deserved breakfast! The staff at the White Horse were fantastic, having only a couple hours kip before waking up to cook us lot a full English breakfast!
One thing I find on 95% of events, nobody offers cold drinks with their breakfasts, I don’t drink Tea or Coffee and a nice cold glass of orange juice would have gone down lovely… Reminds me of the Rali Meirion where I just filled up a coffee mug with milk! Anyway!

What a brilliant event it was! Very testing plotting as well as out in the lanes with only 16 crews finishing ‘fialless’. 43 crews finish though including most of the Premier Rally Championship contenders! Unfortunately Freddy Camp & Mark Appleton bent the suspension on their MG ZR quite early on. At the end as well as the prize giving a couple raffles were done, one for the marshals for their hard work and the other awarding a crew a free entry for next year if they were still there, a great idea as it made people stick around and there were more people there for the award presentations! Even if it did go to a Bath MC crew… FIX!

Well done and thank you to David and Ross Whittock and the rest of the team at Bath MC for all of the effort that they have put into a world class event. I think this one will be hard to beat this year! Thanks also to the 106 marshals who signed on to stand out in the cold while we had our fun. For an event which doesn’t use the ‘No Marshal – No Start’ rule this is brilliant! (And saves most of the competitors £20 paying for a marshal!)

There will definitely be a entry from me next year, I thought the 2014 event was good but this was so much better. What will 2016 have in store for us?!

Several contenders for the Championship were out on the event so there are plenty of points up for grabs! Don’t forget to claim your points by e-mailing info@britishroadrallying.com or submitting the form here: premierrally.co.uk/results-submission before the end of Sunday!

What will the early tables look like? How did the other guys get on on the Bruce Robinson? Positions will be posted soon…